The present invention relates to a dryer for drying delicate garments which are subject to shrinkage. Specifically a drying cycle controller is disclosed for a dryer which will dry the garment in an environment of controlled temperature and humidity.
Various devices have been proposed to control the drying of garments so that minimum wrinklage, or shrinkage of the garments occur. Included among such devices is a device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,314 for controlling the drying of tumbled material. The device of the foregoing patent reduces wrinklage of the garments by controlling the drying temperature profile in the tumbling chamber during a cool down cycle which follows a drying cycle. As disclosed in the aforesaid patent, the wrinklage of the dried material is reduced if a preferred temperature versus time profile is maintained during a cool down cycle rather than permitting the temperature to decrease at a naturally occurring exponential rate.
Although the foregoing device reduces wrinklage, there are many garments which are dry cleaned only as they are prone to excessive shrinkage if moisture is removed from the garment too rapidly. The rate of water removed varies for different types of garments and is highly dependent upon the material type as well as the load size.
The rate of moisture removal and the shrinkage and wrinklage which occurs in dry clean only garments depends upon the size of the load being dried, the material type, and the relative humidity of the external environment. Unless the drying environment is controlled to take into account each of these factors, the rate of moisture removal can not be adequately controlled to avoid wrinklage and/or shrinkage of the garment.